Variable crown rolls which require no roll bending apparatus comprise an arbor with a sleeve shrunk thereon together with means for introducing hydraulic fluid under pressure between arbor and sleeve to inflate the roll so as to bow or crown its working surface. An example is the roll of Noe et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,671 of July 29, 1969. An improved roll of that type is disclosed in Eibe U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,096 of Dec. 13, 1977. Those rolls require a rotating connection between the roll arbor and an external source of hydraulic fluid under pressure. As the pressure required to vary the roll crown may be too high to be readily contained by a rotating connection it is usual to build an intensifier into an end of the arbor and supply it with hydraulic fluid at lower pressure through a rotating connector. While that arrangement is workable it would be desirable to do away with all external connections to the roll while it is in operation, and it is the principal object of my invention to provide such a self-contained variable crown roll.